What happened to taking care of the customer?

I bought a Cyberpower Desktop PC 6 months ago at my local Best Buy in Salem, Oregon. I did not purchase the protection plan. I knew almost nothing about computers before this debacle. Tower was not modified, it was just plugged in and was good to go.

Approximately 6 weeks ago, my computer started having boot up issues where it was prioritizing the Solid State Drive over the Windows Boot Manager, and it was not awaking from sleep mode. I spent about 5-6 hours learning about the problem and was able to devise a work-around to at least load up Windows, but this started to fail as well.

I contacted Cyberpower PC, who deduced that it was my solid state hard drive, with little explanation given to me as to how or why it had failed. I was only advised to go to the post office and send the SSD back (on my dollar). They'd send me a replacement. No explanation was given as to how to take it out of the tower. I was told it was in the back of the tower. After 3 more hours and two more calls and countless youtube videos, I found it in the front of the tower on the bottom. When I asked them about paying for shipping, or doing anything to make this situation right (I had now invested about 10 hours of time and would be paying about $15 for shipping), Cyberpower PC said "You bought it from best buy, they would be the place to do anything like that."

I went to Best Buy this morning at 10am and spoke with a manager, who stated he would need a "return authorization number" from cyberpower PC. I called Cyberpower PC with the Best Buy manager present, and the Cyberpower rep was insisting they could not give anything to Best Buy regarding a return authorization, despite both of us reading to the rep the return policy warranty for Cyberpower which states they do indeed give these.

As Cyberpower was not going to help, the Best Buy manager informed me that he would reach out to "corporate sales" to get authorization to just allow me to exchange the entire computer unit. He had stated that Best Buy was "willing to take the hit just to fix this problem". I use my computer frequently for business and sending in the SSD would be a massive inconvenience. The manager said "I'll call you by 2 or 3 pm today."

I would understand if an exchange wasn't possible. I just needed to know so I could ship the SSD back and get the ball rolling. I never heard from him.

At 4:30 today, I tried calling the store. I got through to a call center in Portland after being on hold for 15 minutes. I left a message. I called again at 5:50pm, same as before, 12 minute hold.

I finally just drove to Best Buy. The manager who had helped me had already left work. After having to reason with the guy in yellow at the front of the store (for the second time today) as to why I needed a manager, I finally got help.

The other manager told me that "a request was filed online to authorize the return and exchange but no one answered." He then proceeded to tell me that "because you didn't buy the protection plan it's not going to be covered, sorry."

Why can't the store manager contact someone over the phone to authorize a simple return/exchange? What happened guys? Why was this so complicated?

I will never go into a Best Buy ever again. When a company worth over 30 billion dollars can't resolve a simple problem like this, they won't be getting my business again.

Re: What happened to taking care of the customer?

I'd recommend working with CyberPC to send back the harddrive, even though I realize you're not wishing to pay for shipping, it's an option that might not be on the table the more time passes. Thanks for registering with the Best Buy forums to share your feedback!

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Re: What happened to taking care of the customer?

Thanks for connecting with us on our forums about this. I'm actually a PC gamer myself. Without my PC I would be pretty lost on what to do with my free time! I also totally understand the random issues that seem to come out of nowhere with gaming PCs. It sounds like there may have been some confusion around how we can assist and I would love to clarify whatever I am able.

Outside of our Return & Exchange Promise, there is generally two options left to fix most issues. The first (and a personal favorite of mine) is Geek Squad Protection (GSP). If you did not purchase GSP on this computer, then we move to the second option. The second option is generally the manufacturer warranty.

Depending on the specifics of this warranty, it can be fulfilled in a few different ways. Mail-in service such as you described is very common. When taking advantage of the manufacturer warranty, we would encourage you to work directly with the manufacturer as they would be best suited to assist. As per our manufacturer contact page, it appears the best number to reach CyberPower PC is (888) 900-5180.

If you are taking advantage of the manufacturer warranty, please continue working with CyberPower PC. If you are in need of further assistance (such as verifying that you did not purchase GSP), or have questions about your specific purchase, please don't hesitate to send us a Private Message by utilizing the blue button in my signature.

I hope that you are able to get your PC working as soon as possible!

Austin|Social Media Specialist | Best Buy® Corporate Give Kudos if you like this post or Accept as Solution if it answers your query!